Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-06-10

which he had stipulated he should
be allowed to sleep in order to protect
jess in case of any tangcr-ho always found
her ready to greet him. and every little
preparation made for his comfort that was
possible under the circumstances. Indeed, as
time went on they found it more convenient
to set up their own little mess instead of
sharing that of their friends, and so they
used every day to sit down to breakfast and
dine together at a little table rugged up out of
a packing case, and placed under an extern
porary tent, all for the world like "a young
couple picnicking on their honeymoon. or
course the whole thing was very irksome
in a way but it is not to be denied that
it had charm of its own. To begin with,
jess, when once one got thoroughly TO know
her, was one of the most delightful com
panions to a man like John Mel that it
was possible to meet with Never till this
long tete tote at Pretoria had he guessed
how powerful and original was her mind,
or how witty she could be when she liked.
There was fund of dry and suggestive
humor about her which, although it would
no more bear being written down than
champagne will bear standing in tumbler,
was very pleasant to listen to, more especially
as John soon discovered that he was the only
person SO privileged Her friends and re-
latons had never suspected that jess was
humorous. Another thing that struck him
about her, as time went on, was that she was
growing quite handsome. She had been very
pale and thin when he reached Pretoria, but
before n month was over she had got, com
paratively speaking, stout, which was an
enormous gain to her appearance. Her pale
face, too, gathered a faint tinge of color, that
came and went caprciously, like starlight on
the water, and her beautiful eyes grew deeper
and more beautiful than ever.
"Who would ever have thought that it was
the same girll" said Mrs Neville to him,
holding up her hands as she watched jess
solemnly surveying half cooked mutton
chop; "why she used to be such n poor crea-
ture, and now she's quite fine woman And
that with this life, too, which is wearing me
to shadow, and has half killed my dear
daughter"
81 suppose it is being in the open air." said
John, it having never occurred to him that
the medicine that was doing Jess so much
good might be happiness. But SO it was At
first there had been struggle, then lull,
and after that an idea. Why should she not
| enjoy his society whic she could? He had
been thrown into her way through no wish
| NJ hers. Shn had no desire to weun him from
Bessie or if she had desire, it was one she
was far too honorable woman to entertain.
! He was perfectly innocent of the whole story;
to him she was the young lady who happened
! to be the sister of the woman he was going to
marry, that was all. Why should she not
pluck her innocent roses while she might!
| She forgot that the rose is a flower with u
dangerous perfume, and one that is apt to
confuse the senses and turn the head. SO she
gave herself full swing, and for some weeks
went nearer to knowing what happiness
really meant than she ever had before. What
a wonderful thing is the love of a woman in
its simplicity and strength, and how it gilds
all the poor and common things of life, and
even finds JOY III service! The prouder the
woman the more delight does she extract
from her self abasement before her idol. Only
not many women can love like jess and
when they do they almost invariably make
some fatal mistake, whereby the wealth of
their affection is wasted, or worse still, he
comes a source of misery or shame to them
selves and others.
1t was after they had been incarceracl in
Pretoria for about month that bright idea
occurred to John. About a quarter of II ME
from the outskirts of the camp stood a Little
house known, probably on account of its
diminutive size, as THE Palatial." This cot
|
in Pretoria, abandoned to its fate, its owner,
as it happened, being away from the town.
One day, i'll the course of walk, John and
ess crossed the little bridge that spanned the
SLUT and went i'll to inspect the place. Pass
ing down path lined on either side with
young blue gums, they reached the little tin
rooted cottage. 1t consisted of two rooms
a bedroom and a good sized sitting room in
which still stood Il table and Il few chars,
with stable and kitchen at the back. Thcv
went in and sat down by the open door and
looked out. The grounds of the little place
soped down toward valley, on the farther
side of which rose wooded hill. 10 the
right too, was hill clothed in deep green
bush. The grounds themselves were planted
with vines, just now loaded with lunches of
ripeninG grapes, and surrounded with u
| beautiful lge of monthly roses that FORM, d
a blaze OF bloom. Near the house, too, vas a
bed of double roses, some of them eXce,t .Illy
beautiful, and all towering with Il prof.. .on
unknown in this country. Altogether it was
a delightful little spot, and after the noise and
glare of the camp, seemed perfectly heavenly
and they sat there and talked great deal
about the farm and old Silas Croft and
little about Bessie.
"This is nice" said jess presently, putting
her hands behind her head and looking out at
the bush beyond.
YES" said John. II say, I've got an idea.
vote we take up our quarters here-during
the day, mean. OF course we shall have to
sleep in camp, but we might eat here, you
know, and you could sit here all day; it
would be as safe as a church, for those Beers
will never try to storm the town, am sure
of that"
jess reflected and soon came TO the conclu-
sion that it would be a charming arrange
ment, and accordingly next day she set to
work and got the place as nice end tidy as
circumstances would allow, and they COM
menced housekeeping.
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